


America First

by KaRaEa



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Muslim Ban, cheesy mush, mash up of real life and MCU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 05:05:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11284284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaRaEa/pseuds/KaRaEa
Summary: Steve's depressed about the Trump administration (aren't we all) and needs perking up





	America First

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this in Canada after reading about the hundreds of people trying to get back to their families during the travel ban, and the fact that the ban was supported by a group of people using the slogan 'America First'. I was depressed and this was one of my methods for dealing. I never posted it but now seems like a good time given the pretty dismal political atmosphere in my own country.

Tony pauses, brain trying to detach itself from a blueprint he's been working over for the past four hours in order to focus on the stiff, traumatised looking man on the couch.

It takes a while. Long enough that by the time he does, he also has the background feed from the news playing through his head. Muslim ban. Tony tenses his jaw, allowing himself to feel the full force of his anger for just a few seconds before crushing it down and closing the refrigerator. "S'up Cap."

Steve doesn't answer. The news has moved on to another topic now, but Steve's face is unchanged. Shell shocked.

Tony drinks some of his water, trying to figure out how best to deal with this. "So..." Nope, that wouldn't work. "Anything you want to..." Neither would that. "Cap?"

Steve doesn't look at him. "America First."

"What?"

Steve looks at the floor, looks as though he's expecting demons to burst through it at any moment. Which, after the last few years, Tony wouldn't actually discount. Steve takes a deep, slightly shaking breath. "That's what they called themselves during the war. The people who wanted us to side with the Nazis."

And that, well, Tony hadn't known that. Makes sense though, in a twisted kind of way. 

"It's happening again. It's happening again, only this time we're the Nazis," Steve continues, a panicked, disbelieving edge to his voice that Tony recognises from his own issues.

"No one could call you a Nazi, Cap. No one with a brain, anyway. Come on! You punched Hitler in the face!" Tony tries. He's out of his depth, but if he tries to call anyone else in to help he's pretty sure Steve will make a break for it. Next thing Tony will know about it is a pile of broken punch bags and Steve being extra polite to everyone.

Steve's mouth twitches as if some neglected part of him is trying to smile. 

After a moment of deliberation, Tony sits next to Steve on the couch. "He lost the popular vote, you know."

"I know. But he's still the president. Tony, I swore to serve the president and my country." Steve looks at him then.

Tony sighs. "Sometimes we have to break promises, Cap. I know it goes against your virtuous nature and all, but we can't always do the right thing without a compromise."

Steve's face starts to crumble.

"Oh god!" Tony blurts in horror. Captain America is crying. This is awful. This has to be an omen of the apocalypse. "No, come on. Don't cry about it. It sucks I know, but..."

Steve sniffles and angrily dashes at his damp eyelashes. "How could this happen? We just had Holocaust Memorial Day. We were supposed to remember. We were supposed to make sure this never happened again."

"I know." Tony says grimly. Then looks back up at the news. "Steve, I know. But we've not lost yet. Look."

Steve looks up.

The television screen is filled with people. Some of the protest signs are legible in the crowd.

"We do remember," Tony says, as softly as he can and feeling incredibly awkward about it. "Look, I'm not a politician, or a soldier or someone that can go and sock ol' Trump on the jaw. But what I am is a Futurist."

Steve is watching him, his face so full of vulnerable hope that Tony can't let him down. He can't. It'd be a crime against humanity, or treason or something.

"It doesn't look good right now, but let me tell you, I'll be damned if the same country that I grew up in, that I see around me every day and that I, on more than one occasion, have risked my life to save will let some crazy dictator with a hardon for taking people's rights away shape our future. It's not going to happen." Tony takes a breath. It's hard to reassure someone that people are predominantly good, when evidence of their hatred and bile is everywhere. "I'm a Futurist. It's my job to predict and shape the future. To look around me and say 'this is what the world needs right now', and right now I say it needs Steve Rogers."

Steve frowns at that, opening his mouth to speak.

"No, I'm not finished. The world doesn't need your supersoldier heroing, or, it does. But it also needs the guy who just burst into tears because he saw people being mistreated," Tony says. He's finally got an idea of where he's going with this. Not much of one, but it still counts. "There's no one to punch or fling a shield at, and I know that's a tough situation for you to deal with, you must be floundering. I bet your fists are depressed. But just 'cause you can't punch it better doesn't mean there isn't stuff you can do."

"Tony-"

Tony waves him off. "Still not finished. There's a reason you're known as a leader of men, and not just some guy who hits things. It's because you inspire people. And even if you didn't, you're determined enough to keep trying until they listen. This battle doesn't need guns or fists, it needs people to stand up and say 'hey, this is my country too, my world too, and this is not okay with me'. And that's something any one of us can do. And the more the merrier." Tony pauses for a moment. "Trump and his kind are outnumbered. They're petty and scared and crap at long term planning. They don't have a vision of the future, they have a vision of a non-existent past. And that's why they'll lose in the end. We're the ones going forward."

Steve looks back at the TV. The news program has ended, but Tony can tell he's not really looking at the commercial for constipation pills. Though in Tony's opinion, he might want to get some of those as well at some point. "It's not okay with me."

"Atta boy," Tony says. "I have some PR people that would probably appreciate some help if you wanna say that a little louder."

"As long as there are no motorcycles and chorus girls involved," Steve says, and if the laughter in his voice is slightly forced, neither of them mentions it.

Tony grins. "You ruin all my fun, you know that?"


End file.
